Gasoline prices reached another record high in Chico on Friday — $3.48 a gallon for regular, according to AAA.

AAA spokesman Sean Comey said Friday”s price broke the record set the previous day, by three cents.

“Just to put it in perspective,” Comey said, “a month ago we were paying $3.06 and last year on this date $2.87. Hopefully, gas stations aren”t shopping for plastic 4”s to put on their gas signs.”

Which begs the question, is there any credibility to those whispers of imminent $4-per-gallon prices?

Comey said the more people talk about it, the greater chance it could have in coming to fruition.

“That whole $4 notion got traction because it was posed as a hypothetical: ”It”s possible we might see that in some markets in some areas.” And people seized on that,” he said. “You run the risk of it being a self-fulfilling prophecy when you say that. Supply and demand should determine the price of gas, but psychology is one dynamic of the marketplace.”

Comey, who said “we have a glut of supply” to meet demand, admitted we”ve likely not seen the end of the current price-increase cycle.

“We”ve reached a record high but probably not the highest yet,” he said. “When it will peak is the hardest to predict. … It”s possible we”ve seen the prices artificially inflate and it could come down.”

As prices creep higher, surcharges for mid-range and premium grades continue at near the traditional 10-cent mark.

“That differential has stayed the same, at about that 10-cent gap, for a long time,” said California Energy Commission spokeswoman Suzanne Garfield-Jones. “It”s anybody”s guess why. It seems to be traditional convention or what the market would bear.”

Dave Fogarty, a Western States Petroleum Association spokesman, said adding octane and other additives to achieve a premium grade is not as expensive as the oil itself.

“I suspect that (10-cent gap) just reflects the cost,” Fogarty said. “The higher octane is not necessarily proportional to the overall cost. It”s the cost of crude that varies.”

While it may seems as if consumers would be getting a better deal, spending just a bit extra for premium gasoline, it”s an unnecessary purchase in most cases.

“At one time premium was more important; engines used to be geared for that,” said Garfield-Jones. “Now, engines run incredibly well on regular.”

Comey concurred.

“Most run fine on the cheapest gas, 87 octane,” he said. “Despite recommendations to do otherwise, people cling to the notion that if they fill up their car with premium, it will run better and last longer when there”s really no evidence to support it.”

Comey, along with Garth Strick, general manager of Warner Petroleum in Chico, said the falling value of the American dollar has a role in the escalation of the price of crude oil, which is more than $100 per barrel and represents 60 percent to 65 percent of the price at the pump, according to Fogarty.

Comey said other factors contributing to the recent price spike include the fact that prices typically rise in the spring as people drive more and states roll over to a more expensive but cleaner “summer blend.”

In addition, Comey said each barrel of oil is traded more than in years past. Not only are the “people who get it from the ground, people who make it into gas and people who deliver it” part of the profit-sharing picture, but there are more middlemen who redistribute the commodity.

“And they are not running charities,” he said.

Strick said local gas station owners should not be demonized.

“Even though we think it”s high, the cost of gas is low compared to what it”s costing a station operator to keep his doors open. Owners get dinged about 3 percent a sale if someone uses their Visa card,” he said, citing one supplemental cost.

Station operators are also facing another cost as enhanced vapor recovery systems become a California Air Resources Board requirement in April 2009. That mandatory upgrade comes with an estimated cost of $25,000 for a four-dispenser station, according to the board”s Web site.

“This state is the best at knowing how to make regulations,” Strick said. “And they have.”

Staff writer Alan Sheckter can be reached at 896-7771 or asheckter@chicoer.com.